_________________________________________

Elaria

Elaria was walking down a dark hallway, her heart racing with fear and dread. She had failed yet again, and she knew the punishment, but the family just referred to it as 'training'.

As she walked, the hall seemed to stretch on forever, and she started to hear familiar voices calling from the shadows.

"Pathetic"

"Get the healer, will you... She needs to go again."

"Weak"

"Ha, just think of them as pigs and swing!"

"Failure"

"She can't even finish a simple contract right!"

"Incompetent"

"You had one job! Signal the retreat!"

"Cowardly"

"You...flinched… Well that won't do…"

"A Waste"

"Why can't we just kill her?"

Elaria dropped into a panic at the words of the last voice, and she started sprinting down the seemingly endless corridor.

"She's there, she's always there. She'll help, she'll protect me." She repeated to herself with sheer terror.

When Elaria reached the end of the hall, right before the fighting pit, no one was there. She could hear the voices start to approach from behind, and she sank to the floor. She was unable to continue into the pit and unable to turn around to face the voices. She started to cry when they finally reached her, but after a few moments, one word brought the rest into silence.

"Alone…."

Elaria sat there on the ground, her sobbing being the only sound to fill the space around her.

"Why, why wasn't she here? She's always here! I can't go in if she's not here!" She wailed.

Elaria soon felt a warmth begin to envelop her, much warmer than her sister's usual embrace.

"Shhh, it's ok. I'm here now." The vaguely familiar voice calmed.

Elaria’s breathing steadied, and her trembling subsided.

"You don't have to go in anymore, and you don't have to listen to those other voices." The voice reassured.

Elaria tried to look up to the person speaking, but she couldn't move her head.

"You can just stay with me, Tessari."

_________________________________________

Leo

Leo awoke to see Elaria watching him as they lay next to each other, her face wearing a peaceful expression as they stared into one another's eyes.

Leo smiled softly with his own feelings of contentment, before lifting his hand to run his fingers across the cool scales on her face. "Have a good sleep?"

Elaria’s smile grew wide at the affection. "It started out rocky, but…" She trailed before giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

Leo raised an eyebrow with his smile still present. "I'll take that as a yes then, mind sharing?" He inquired curiously while he drifted off a little in her light amber eyes.

Elaria wore a thoughtful expression. "Hmm, nope." She answered playfully, right before she sprang out of bed to skip off to the shower.

With a chuckle Leo decided to join her, though the shower was set a little colder than he was used to, and after a few intimate moments, they both got dressed and headed up for breakfast.

Leo finished his food and was just about done with sketching out the rune layout for the shower when Allis entered the inn, slithering over to their table with a pleased expression.

After some initial greetings, Allis asked how the trade went, and Leo cast a sound barrier spell before recounting the events that took place. Allis dropped into multiple levels of shock as he told the story, much to both his and Elaria's amusement.

Allis looked disbelievingly at Leo. "A hundred eighty gold, two thousand acres of land, and an order for constructing a mansion?" She recounted the gains as she slid back a bit in her chair.

Leo wore a guilty expression while he rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. "Well, technically it's three mansions, but one for on-site staff and the other will be my workshop slash trade company headquarters."

"Trade company?" Allis asked with a cocked head and a bit of confusion.

Leo simply shrugged at the question. "I'm going to need one if I'm gonna replace the guild." He responded casually.

Elaria’s eyes widened a little as she turned to Leo. "You want to take over the trade in Telnar?" She asked, sounding kind of impressed with him.

Leo smiled maniacally, because that was ‘way’ too small a goal for what he actually planned. "No, I want to crush and replace the whole merchants guild." He remarked assuredly, and Allis wore a look of utter disbelief before turning to Elaria, expecting some kind of support in explaining how insane that would be.

Seeing Allis’s expression, Elaria let out a resigned sigh. "I've accepted the fact that summons are just that ambitious, and have the ability to back it up. I mean look at what he's done since arriving, he's learned magic on a leisurely stroll, became an arch mage without even knowing, and now he’s essentially become a lord."

Leo smiled proudly at his list of accomplishments, but then it quickly warped into a frown. "lord?" He asked with heavy confusion.

Elaria stared emotionlessly at Leo with a critical gaze. "Leo, you own two thousand acres of land, and are going to live on a manor." She pointed out a matter-of-factly.

Leo’s brow furrowed, both with confusion and worry at the sudden elevation in status. "Wait, but don't I need to be, well, given the title?" He questioned with serious doubt.

Allis shrugged. "If we're being picky, then yes, but you have the wealth and land, so you basically get the title by default."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Leo sighed a little exhaustedly at the new brightly colored target he obliviously placed on his own back. "Yet another title I've gained while completely unaware." He remarked while a little troubled by the pattern that was starting to form.

Elaria smirked as she rested her head on a propped up arm. "lord and arch mage Leo, dragon of the sheets." She playfully mocked.

Leo shut his eyes and let out an audible groan. ‘God. Fucking. Damn it.’ He irritably thought and hoped that this was the last one he would be receiving, because the last thing he would want is to be introduced with a title chain longer than Daenerys’s.

Getting over the disturbing thought, Leo turned to Allis. “Well that's enough about me, how did your effort to mend bridges go?” He asked with genuine interest.

Allis looked a bit conflicted while becoming a little shy. “Some good, some… Not so good. I did manage to fix things with the herbalist though, and she'll be taking up my post at the clinic tomorrow.” She finished while fidgeting slightly.

Leo raised an eyebrow at her turn of mood. “That's great, but what's wrong? Were some of them that bad?” He asked a little worriedly.

Allis started swaying with her fingers interlaced. “No it's just… I was going to invite you two to stay at my place, but since you're basically going to be living in a mansion….” She trailed off a little dejectedly.

A sly smile crossed Leo's face, remembering how starved for proper interaction she was. “You're? So I take it you don't want to live with us when it's built then?” He openly teased the socially timid woman.

Allis’s eyes looked like perfect round circles with how wide they shot open. “No! I mean, yes I would love to move in with you… If you're offering, that is?” She finished somewhat nervously.

Leo barked a laugh, remembering when he had a couple of similar reactions to hers back in high school. “Of course, how else are we going to plan out Taipa’s new life as a street rat.” He joked, and Allis beamed with joy at the acceptance.

After a bit of chatting, Leo told Allis and Elaria that he wasn't going out today, since he wanted to refit the inn's showers, enchant Kesl some new magical kitchen appliances, and show him a few more recipes from his world. He was going to drop the cut from the pizza and give him the appliances, more recipes, and randomly add new improvements to the inn, all for free, at least until he moved into his new home.

‘Might as well fool around with enchanting, while helping a brother out.’

_________________________________________

Fel

Fel was at a genuine loss for words when she woke up this morning, as she recalled the events of yesterday's usually scheduled spy time. She had been eavesdropping in an alley, as her hearing was able to make out the entire conversation through the stone wall.

She ‘almost’ considered burning down the branch when they found out Leo was an arch mage, because she could just hear Yez screaming at her for not doing it, but that thankfully resolved itself, so for the most part she was just speechless as she listened. Leo had somehow managed to trade a bulk of enchanted items into a sizable bit of wealth as well as a manor with a large swath of land, essentially making him a lord. That happening at all, much less in about a week and a half since his summoning, was ‘not’ part of the plan.

Fel was laying in bed with a blank stare. “Fffuuuuuuccckkk.” She hissed out as she knew she had to report on this today, opting to skip yesterdays because she was too mentally drained to deal with Yez’s reaction.

Fel sat up from the bed and pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘I think my grandfather missed the part where a summon didn't need a kingdom to support them. If this rate of growth continues, then he might damn well take over selaria before the end of the season...' She thought while looking at the communication orb on the bedside table with overwhelming hesitation.

Fel let out a groan as she picked up the orb. “No way around it then….” She resigned aloud.

Fel brought the orb to her face, dreading the conversation that was about to happen. “Yez?” She called.

The orb started to light up after a moment. “Hey Fel, how's the summon doing? He cast any more strange magic?” Yez asked a little bitterly.

“....”

The orb grew brighter. “What did he do now?” Yez questioned with utter exasperation.

Fel explained the situation in full, and the light of the orb seemed to dull the more Fel went on. When Fel was done, utter silence hung in the air for a few moments.

Fel frowned before sheepishly attempting to aske. “Yez...you stil-”

The orb instantly grew so bright that Fel felt like it burned her eyes, causing her to drop it. While Fel was rubbing the pain out of her eyes, she could hear incoherent yelling mixed with random expletives coming from the orb. The onslaught of undirected rage went on for several minutes before it finally subsided.

Fel sighed while picking back up the orb. “Yez, you need to bring him into the fold.” Fel stated coolly.

The orb grew dim. “But the plan was to do that after the academy's retaliation.” Yez complained with a seething rage still present in her voice.

Fel scowled at Yez’s stubborn need to follow her own plans to the letter. “Yez! He won't ‘be’ in Telnar when that happens!” She yelled at the orb, her own anger building from how dense her ‘boss’ was being.

The orbs light spiked. “It will take at least a few dozen weeks until his home is constructed! And what if he doesn't join, because he has no motivation to, especially now that he's a lord!” Yez countered in a hard tone.

Fel was seconds from crushing the orb in a frustrated rage. “Ahhhhg…... Ok, listen, at this point if we don't do it, or at least try, he will fuck up your plans. Fuck! He's already fucked up your plans! It's now the difference between choosing whether we want to watch all of our effort get tossed into the void, or at least attempt to salvage the situation.” Fel pleaded with the stone wall of a woman.

The orb spiked in brightness. “Damn it! Fine! But do it when you move on Telnar, and oversee the take over personally, because I would also like at least the main part of the plan to not fall apart. And if it does, then I will not hesitate to cut our losses in that kingdom.” Yez ordered harshly.

Fel would be speechless at the move to just abandon everything, if she wasnt party to it before. “Fine..” She answered through gritted teeth.

The orbs light was steady. “Also, continue to stay relatively out of sight. We may not interact with the other races all that much, but some of our features are dead giveaways.” Yez explained.

Letting go of her own frustrations, Fel rolled her eyes at the comment. “I know, any one with half a mind could tell that from the scales around my face, even if I hide my horns and tail. I guess on the bright side I can stop skulking around town to spy on him, so that's something… Anyway, how's it going on your end?” Fell asked with not that much interest, due to her own problems.

A sigh could be heard from the other end of the orb. “I’m done, though I can't say it was hard. I have all the falsified evidence ready, and the necklaces are still being snuck into both the kingdoms, so there's not much to do but wait. The worst thing that could happen is for a competent mage to look too closely at one, but…” Yez exaggeratedly trailed.

Fel chuckled. “As rare as a mage themselves.” She finished with an amused tone.

The orbs light was steady. “Well if that's all, then I recommend chugging any of your mana potions, should let you squeeze out an extra teleport or two. You look well past the worst of the mana depletion, so it should be safe for you to start drinking without any strain. The sooner we can get him under control the better.” Yez advised.

“Ok then, talk to you tomorrow.” Fel said right before the orb’s light disappeared.

Fel sighed loudly. ‘If I start drinking mana potions now, then I should be done in two more days. Ugh, we've only gotten to a quarter of the town's guard, so we gotta go with plan B for that one. It's still better than directly taking the town by force.’ She thought to herself.

“Gods I hope he doesn't do anything else…”

_________________________________________